


It's an AP Thing

by CryoCait



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Established Relationship, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 09:27:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20061757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryoCait/pseuds/CryoCait
Summary: Caleb and Jester both work together at the same alternative high school, they have for years. And for years, their students had thought the same thing over and over: they'd be a cute couple.So naturally, the students decide to rally together and set their teachers up, making them fall in love with each other.What they don't know? They've been married for years and haven't told their students, and Jester thinks this a perfect opportunity to let hijinks ensue.





	It's an AP Thing

“So Kiri and Luke like, _totally _think we should date.” Jester flopped down next to Caleb on the old couch on the back wall of the teacher’s lounge. She hadn’t yet changed out of her paint smock, small flecks of dried paint flaking off as she fell into her seat, adding to the years of wear and tear of the couch.

“We’re already married.” Caleb shot back, not once looking up from his book. Jester took a cursory glance at the cover- _East of Eden. _Jester sighed, flopping her head down on his lap.

“Yeah but _they _don’t know that.”

Dranas Alternative Program was a small school. Originally an old manor house in the 1800s, in the mid-1970’s it was renovated into a small high school by a group of hippie teachers from the local school district as an “Alternative School.” Most kids who attended ironically called it “The Chateau” after the gaudy exterior of the former manor house, now run down with hundreds of years of use and minimal funding for upkeep.

Jester never liked the way that phrase sat with her- alternative school. The connotations in the public eye were resoundingly negative towards any alternative programs for public school districts, schools where the “bad kids” went, the “troubled children.” But that just wasn’t the Chateau. If anything, it was more of a liberal arts, arts-based school. Jester grew up in the Chateau, her mother the former principal.

It was a small school, only housing around sixty students per grade. Eight classrooms, ten teachers, and the atmosphere was vastly different than any other school. It was relaxed here, the students called the teacher by their first names, and they all knew everything about everyone.

Except that their Literature teacher and their Guidance Counselor had been married for three years.

It wasn’t intentional at the beginning, Jester had simply decided to keep her name after the wedding, right as Caleb was also beginning at the Chateau. It would keep confusion down, they thought. Then they decided no PDA in the building, to keep an air of professionality around them. And then Jester started heading to the school earlier than Caleb in the mornings to meet with students before school, so they drove separately. Suddenly several months into Caleb’s first year teaching at Dranas, they suddenly realized none of the students had any idea they were husband and wife.

Then it became a game. How long could they last not letting on to the students that they were married? They got the other teachers in on it as well, no one expecting it to last more than a few months.

That was six years ago, and none of their students had figured it out yet.

Jester sighed kicking her feet up onto the arm of the couch.

“I think it might be fun, you know. Having our students set us up.” Caleb cocked his eyebrow, marking his place in the book before closing it. He looked down at his wife, running his fingers through her hair.

“Do you finally want to let the cat out of the bag?” Jester sighed.

“Yeah, I think so. But I want to make it fun, you know? I think if we maybe drop some hints to the kids that we might be interested in each other then they’ll think _oh my god we have to make them fall in loooove! _And then they’ll try to like, Parent Trap us or something, you know?”

“So you want to trick our pupils into tricking us into getting together even though we’re already together?”

“I mean, basically, yeah.” Caleb took a long moment, thinking it over.

“_Ja, _alright. Let’s do it.” Jester shot up out of his lap, beaming.

“Really? Like, really, really?” Caleb laughed.

“Yes, like _really _really. On one condition.” Jester sighed, _of course there was a condition. _“If they don’t figure it out by the end of the year, we’ll just tell them, okay? I don’t want this stretching on over school years.”

“Deal!” Jester tackled Caleb onto the couch in a hug.

\---

“And _that _is what’s really the core value of the novel, that concept of ‘thou mayest,’ the opportunity for choice and for growth past what is laid out for you.” Caleb glanced around at the class, everyone attempting to quietly pack up. He sighed. “All right, get out of here. Go get lunch and don’t forget town meeting is today during D block!” The class emptied rapidly, everyone eager to sign out to get their lunch, hopping in their cars to go to Wendy’s or Chipotle.

It was as Caleb was wiping down the whiteboard that he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

“I thought you should know the kids are plotting against you.” He turned to see Beauregard, the Chateau’s resident Math/Gym teacher. Ever since Caleb started teaching at the Chateau, the two had quickly grown to become very close friends, bonding together over being California kids in New England (Caleb had immigrated with his parents in the fourth grade from Germany to San Fransico, while Beau was born and raised in Los Angeles.) That, combined with Jester’s status as “Beau’s best friend for ever and _ever.” _Meant the two quickly formed a very tight bond.

“Are they trying to set myself and Jester up?” He asked, wiping some stray dry erase ink onto his pants.

“Uh, yeah, actually. You already hear about it?” 

“Ohhh yeah.”

“Lemme guess, Jess wants to let them do it?”

“And she hits the nail on the head.” Beau sighed, sinking down into one of nearby chairs.

Jester’s pranks weren’t uncommon among the faculty, and even to a small degree the students. Senior pranks were nearly always aided by her, and she had a habit of sneaking up behind students with bags of chips who weren’t paying attention in the common room, the Big Room, they called it, and crunching them.

However, with the teachers, it was a different story entirely. Faculty dreaded the days Jester decided it was time to “appease the trickster gods” and allow chaos to descend upon the alternative program.

“Do you think there’s any way to convince her to drop it, or just _tell _the kids about you guys?” Caleb shook his head.

“I already said yes to it. Besides, I’m getting tired of the secrecy and if it means we can just get it out in the air already? I’ll accept it.”

Beau sat there for several long moments, mulling it over.

On the downside, Jester’s prank wars were legendary, and tricking the students into a massive ordeal involving their romance would surely lead to trouble. On the other hand, however…

Caleb had become like a brother to Beau, the two were inseparably close and, yes, they did have a tendency to get on the other’s nerves quite often, but that’s just how siblings act. And any sister worth their salt knew that any opportunity to torment their brother was a rare and precious one, and should not be wasted.

“Well then,” she said, kicking her heels up onto the desk, a shit eating grin spreading across her face “How do we get this started?”

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhh! Hello!
> 
> This is an idea I've had floating around for a little while now. The school itself is based entirely and exactly on my old high school, so if you've ever happened to attend a certain AP in central Ohio...you'll recognize it. 
> 
> Let's be real here, if Jester was a teacher and she had the chance to teach at a weird hippie school, she'd totally take it. The whole Mighty Nein would, really. Ergo, alternative program. Plus, I wanted a smaller environment where it made sense that everyone knew each other well. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Second chapter will be up very soon! And it'll be substantially longer!


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